Hoist by their €500 petard
This is my column in The Malta Independent (published yesterday). You can read the rest in the direct link below.
The Labour Party spent the last four years leading up to the March general election bitching about the “€500 per week which ministers paid themselves”.
Keen as they were to score maximum partisan advantage from this badly handled matter – and when I say ‘badly handled’ I mean press and communications and not the money itself – they looked to its uses as a tactic for getting themselves into government and did not see beyond that and to how they would cope once actually in government themselves.
Would they be able to manage on the monies paid to cabinet members? Clearly not – for as we are beginning to see, they are cracking up under the strain and badgering the prime minister to allow them to carry on with their ‘real’ job, the one which pays the mortgage, so to speak.
Because it didn’t pay them to do so, from the partisan point of view, the Labour Party never told people the truth: that they agreed with the higher salary for ministers and parliamentary secretaries because ministers and parliamentary secretaries, unlike other members of parliament, must give up their private practice and/or other paid work.
They then suffer a massive drop in income with the result that some cabinet ministers, with the great responsibilities they shoulder and the constant flak and pressure, end up earning less than backbenchers who carry on working as architects, lawyers, doctors or whatever.
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http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2013-04-18/opinions/hoist-by-their-500-petard-1414823946/
Well said and explained
Since Labour came to power all the government protocols and procedures are in doubt.
As usual, your article is spot on. No one could have said it better.
If these people are transparent and honest, they should come out in the open and admit that all the hullabaloo raised about the 500 euros for the ministers was a mistake.
Joseph Muscat ma jistax jghollihomlom issa. Wieghed li tul il-legislatura kollha ma jghollihomx.
The road map for this problem will be to set up a commission to study the remuneration due to Ministers and this independent (sic) commission shall recommend a 600 euro per week increase. But that should be acceptable because it won’t be Muscat who would have approved it.
We all know that politicians in Malta are not paid well for their job. That’s precisely why it was scandalous of the PL to hammer repetitively on the Eur 500 weekly increase that the previous administration introduced (albeit in a very wrong manner).
There is no way of attracting good quality politicians to our Parliament unless their salaries are pegged up. Nations such as Malta cannot be governed by the ‘ekonomija tal-kcina ta’ Joseph Muscat’ as Franco Mercieca himself is now experiencing.
Meddling with private practice as a form of compensation is just not right. Good wages and a declaration of no other income whatsoever is needed to start rehabilitating parliament.
This thinking needs to cascade to senior public service employees too. You cannot risk having top government officials running their own clinics, taking photographs at weddings and lecturing long hours at university to make ends meet.
Lawrence Gonzi had the willingness to address this very pressing concern but the ‘politika tal-ghira’ overwhelmed us all.
Muscat’s dishonesty knows no bounds, He has been expedient with the truth.
He fleeced this issue as much as he could so now the country is going to be run by a bunch of part-timers, if that at all. But what does he care – so long as he achieved his aim and became prime minister.
That is all that counted – taking political mileage out of every issue he could in spite of the cost to the country. His own future is secure thanks to the Brussels he fought so hard against.
In the meantime, the precious one goes to gym at 9am when most people have already been at work for a good hour. I suppose he has so much on his mind that he can’t ruin his beauty sleep. So much for hitting the ground running – I think he was thinking of his treadmill when he said that.
With each passing day, the fact that our new PM hasn’t got a FUCKING clue is ever more evident. He can’t take one decent decision which is in the best interest of this country.
God, I really hope all those oh-so-smart people who switched to vote him in are totally and utterly ashamed of allowing themselves to be taken for a ride. I am definitely ashamed of once having been associated with them.
Brilliant piece of writing. Couldn’t agree more. Well done.
Famous adage, what goes around comes around
My thoughts exactly. Ministers and PSs are grossly underpaid, but after they raised hell for 4 years, appealing to the ghaslty ingrained socialism that exists in Maltese voters’ heads, they have to lump it.
The Opposition should not let Muscat get away with allowing them private practice – ministers have to be above that. They are far too busy and powerful. Issa joqoghdu bil 40k (jew kemm ghandhom insomma). Tough shit.
Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has a big problem. If he gives the 500 Euro per week rise he has to reduce his Cabinet by at least half.
The Nationalist Party handling of the salaries of Ministers was apologetically shamefaced and “below the counter”. The Labour Party way of doing the same thing is discriminatory, brazen and absolutely shameless.
It gets better.
http://www.maltarightnow.com/?module=news&at=L%2Dewwel+jg%26%23295%3Bid+mod+imbag%26%23295%3Bad+jag%26%23295%3Bmel+ie%26%23295%3Bor&t=a&aid=99846446&cid=49
Muscat had asked him whether he was willing to take executive responsibility, now the PM, if he is, had to make do with a waiver.
He needs to check inside his undervest, is it a full chest of hair or sloppy manboobs?
Oh dear, Godfrey and Marlene are at it again.
http://www.maltarightnow.com/?module=news&at=Sitwazzjoni+%27%27all+in+the+family%27%27+fit%2Dtmexxija+tal%2DMinisteru+tas%2DSa%26%23295%3B%26%23295%3Ba&t=a&aid=99846442&cid=19
Claudio Tonna’s part of the clan.
http://www.maltarightnow.com/?module=news&at=Di%C5%BCgwid+ukoll+fil-lokalita'+ta%C5%BC-%C5%BBurrieq&t=a&aid=99835649&cid=55
Whereas Mark did us proud in Europe.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3yCjDxs4E0
They are probably kicking themselves for having objected to it. They can’t exactly ask for the raise now.
Fantastic, prosit. Absolutely true. And I will add that Godfrey Farrugia and others like him do not persuade me that they are sad and depressed because they now cannot look after their patients and attend to them.
In my opinion, they are regretting the income that will no longer be flowing in, thanks to their “dedication” to their patients.
Is it too much to ask for a decrease in ministers’ wages since their workload has now been reduced thanks to an increase in ministries?
Divide and rule , instill discontent and reap the benefits . Joseph seems to be a great agitator of the old Soviet school ( ban the bomb type ) , the question is can he govern ?
With ministers keep working in their private practice, are we to assume that we’ve got a part time government?
Wara dak l’ghajjat u t-tixwix kollu ta’ qabel l-elezzjoni, issa jiehdu pacenzja il-ministri u joqghodu hermm minghajr iz-zieda ta’ 500 Euro fil-gimgha.
Veru kaz ta’ “Min xarbu kielu l-bakkaljaw”
As you say, it is evident that Muscat is attempting to get around the problem he got himself into by permitting private practice.
However, this is going to lead not only to the day job suffering, but possibly to serious conflicts of interest as well.
For instance, we now know that Franco Mercieca has been given a waiver by the Prime Minister to carry on with his practice as eye specialist in private clinics, but not in public hospitals.
We also know that in his “rowtmepp”, Muscat has promised that the state will pay for operations to be carried out in private hospitals or clinics in order to cut waiting times in state hospitals.
So now, will Franco Mercieca be in favour of efficiency in state hospitals (especially in the ophtalmology), or will he be in favour of long waiting lists in state hospitals which will lead to operations being transferred to the private sector?
Which side is his bread buttered on?
Buttered on all four sides if possible , yum .
Thanks to Labour, politicians who serve the nation have been denied a decent salary. Breaching ethics is not the way to go about saving a professional’s standard of living.
“Keep it up” u ibqa ikxfilhom awwarhom. Iz-zejd ga telgha f’wicc l’ilma u l-anqas ghadhom ghalaqu l-100 jum. Malta taghhom ilkoll u mhux taghna lkoll. B’dispjacir nghid dan il-kliem pero ma’ tistax ma’ tghidux. J’alla t-trasferimenti li qed isiru u li ghad jistghu isiru biex il-postijiet jittiehdu min tal- qalba tal-PL, ikunu ta’ dawk li ghal xi raguni ddecidew li jippruvaw lil Joseph Muscat. L-egoismu ta’ dawn in-nies ha jispicca jbghati pajjizna u prova ta’ dan qala l-Ministru tal-Finanzi stess meta habbar li d-defisit ha jkun ta 3%. Tal-misthija u ma nafx kif ma’ jndunawx li l-PL jew ahjar il-Partit Socjalista ghax issa qed jinhbew jew ahjaw qed jikklownjaw il-PN, li dan il-partit ma jinbidel qatt. Ghal darbohra zomm sod u keep it up.
Dr Farrugia and Dr. Mercieca want to keep their private practice not because of their dedication to their patients but for other reasons, mainly pecuniary.
I was just thinking that the older ministers probably have a much better financial deal than the younger ones.
If you are over 65, you can get your full pension in addition to your income. If you used to be a Minister, even for a short time (like George Vella) then I believe you get a “ministerial” pension, which is a pension to which the normal capping does not apply. And it’s quite a handsome pension as it is calculated on the basis of the full current ministerial salary.